College Days: Old Trails
by WesUAH
Summary: On Valentine's Day, 2009, two old friends find each other once again. Written for the Valentine's Day contest at RS dot net. Part of the Legacy Universe.


_Ever felt away with me  
Just once that all I need  
Entwined in finding you one day_

_Ever felt away without me  
My love, it lies so deep  
Ever dream of me_

_-"Ever Dream", by Nightwish_

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* * *

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**Old Trails**

It was her Junior year of college. The turning point, the time where a student moves past the required basic classes to real meat of his or her major. The coursework gets a lot busier, but it also gets a lot more fun... and for the most part, she was having a lot of fun.

She was also alone. On Valentine's Day, no less.

Not that she didn't have any friends, quite the contrary. In fact, she had many friends, for she had that sort of open and warm personality that allowed her to make friends with anyone and everyone she met. She got along well with her two roommates, and had even dated a few of her guy friends.

Even so, like clockwork, she always wound up alone on Valentine's Day.

Somehow or another, except for one, none of her boyfriends had ever lasted until the 14th of February. She never had a hard break up with anyone, and she remained good friends with each of the guys she had dated. Not that they maintained full and regular contact, but there were no hard feelings involved. They had each agreed that they were friends, and wouldn't be anything more.

Except for one. That one, oddly enough, had occurred her Junior year of High School. In the later half of the fall semester of that year, a nice, quietly confident young man had, out of the blue, come up to her and asked her if she would like to get dinner a movie that Friday night.

His name was Josh. Her name was Tara.

He had recently parted ways with Kim, his on-again-off-again crush (or, at least, she crushed on him, and his opinion on the whole matter was never fully explained to anyone), and had done so quite amicably, despite the rumors of strange ninja involvement. Besides, as he would later explain, he'd figured that her heart already belonged to someone else, she just didn't know it yet (since Tara knew the someone else, she wholeheartedly concurred with that statement).

Still, she figured that he was just rebounding; even so, she agreed to go out with him that Friday night.

It was the best date she'd ever had. One way or another, throughout the course of the evening, Josh and Tara managed to completely and utterly charm one another, and were instantly smitten.

Within a week, they started going steady. Shortly after that, Ron saw them walking arm-in-arm at the Middleton Days preparations.

The holidays came and went, and then it was the New Year, and school began again, and still they were together. January passed, then came February, and for the first, and so far only, time since she began to care about such things, Tara had a boyfriend on Valentine's Day.

He had given her chocolates, a randomized assortment of Lindt truffles.

She had violated Barkin's PDA code.

A week later, he brought her chocolates again, this time with bad news. His father had been transferred out-of-state; they had tried, but there was nothing that could be done about it, and so the Mankeys were going to have to leave Middleton. And Josh was going to have to go with them.

Two weeks after that, he was gone. They tried to keep the relationship going through e-mail and phone calls, but by the time of the Junior prom, the distance had put enough of a strain on them that they decided to move on.

But she couldn't. She dated one of the basketball players for a short time, and attended the prom with a few friends, but nothing ever stuck, nothing ever stayed. It was that way throughout her Senior year, and on into college.

Until now, Valentine's Day, her Junior year of college.

* * *

She had spent most of the day doing homework, or trying to watch TV, or sitting on her dorm room couch, thinking of the day he'd brought her chocolates. They were great chocolates, especially the ones with the raspberry centers.

She missed him terribly; they'd lost touch a few years earlier, when they both started college and she managed to loose his new e-mail address and contact information. It had really gotten bad after the last Christmas Break, when she could have sworn she'd seen him at a 'Welcome Back, Students' party.

That had been an odd moment, but she figured it was the Junior year coincidence playing tricks with her mind.

She rolled over on her back, and stared at the ceiling, and wondered if she would only ever have those memories, and nothing more. A depressing thought, to be sure, but Valentine's Day can bring that out in the perpetually single. She let out a brief, wistful sigh.

Then a piece of waded up notebook paper bounced off of her nose.

"C'mon, Tara," said Patty, her first roommate. "You just gonna lay there sighing all day, or what? There are things to do, people to see."

"I told you, Patty, I don't want to hang around with you and Charles tonight. The two of you should have Valentine's Day to yourselves."

"Like I'm gonna leave you here along," Patty said with a grin. "Marcie is off with Pierre tonight, and I'm not gonna let you spend yet another Valentine's Day moping around in your dorm room. Up! Up!"

Tara sat up and grinned.

"Why do I get the feeling that you won't let it be until I get up and go?"

"Because I won't. Don't worry, I'm won't drag you around too far; I'm meeting Chuck at the campus art gallery tonight. Some new kid is showing his stuff off; seems to be pretty good."

"So?"

"Well, better to be mopey while surrounded by artwork than in a dorm. Change of scenery, if nothing else."

* * *

Tara had heard of the art show; a new guy had transferred into the Art Department that semester, and had managed to wow his professors right from the get-go. As such, they'd allowed him the right to showcase his work in the campus gallery, even though he'd only been with the school for a month.

She had never actually caught the boy's name. But apparently the rumors of his skill were true, as she found herself wowed by the quality of the works as she entered the gallery. While Tara studied the paintings, Patty stood on her tip-toes and looked around, as if she was trying to find something.

Two things, actually. One was Charles, whom she spotted rather quickly, and the artist, who took a bit longer. She finally found him leaning against one of the far walls, conversing with some of the students. She waved to get his attention, and called out to Tara at the same time.

Both of their heads turned, and Patty had positioned herself so that Tara and the artist would make eye contact when they turned to look at her.

Which they did.

_'...and my work here is done,'_ Patty thought, quite satisfied. She walked over to Charles, took his hand, and left the gallery to go find dinner.

Both Tara and the artist stood still, and quiet, completely ignoring everything except for each other. For a long moment, neither of them could believe it. Then they did, and began to move towards each other, a slow walk that turned into a desperate rush.

They met in the middle. They met in each other's arms.

"Hey," Josh whispered as he held her.

"That _was_ you at the party, wasn't it? How did you get here?"

"Just... happenstance, I guess. This school has a pretty good art program, I wasn't happy where I was, so I transferred. I saw you at that party, and I would have tried to find you, but we haven't talked for so long that-"

She cut him off by again violating Barkin's PDA regulations. Not that Barkin was actually there to complain, but that's how she'd always thought of it.

She finally pulled away, so they could both breath.

"I'm sorry it's been so long, Josh."

"Nah, it's cool," he said with rakish grin. "We've found each other again, right?"

"Right."

"Good. C'mon, I've got something for you," he said suddenly. Then he grabbed her hand, turned, and led her laughing across the gallery to his backpack. He opened it up, reached in, and pulled out a box. It was wrapped in red tissue paper.

"I didn't know if I should try to find you," he explained quietly, as he handed her the box, "but ever since I glimpsed you at that party, I was kind of hoping you'd find me."

She removed the tissue paper, and smiled.

"Happy Valentine's Day, Tara."

He gave her chocolates, a randomized assortment of Lindt truffles.

**The End **


End file.
